Elsa Was a Jilted Bride in Original 'Frozen' Plot (Glad They Let That Go)

Maybe these will be considered fightin' words, but we're going to say that Frozen -- while a solid animated flick -- was nowhere near Lion King levels of Disney greatness. But part of what made it so good was the gleeful manner in which it fooled us all into thinking the story was headed down the traditional fairy-tale path we'd seen before, only to sideswipe us when we smugly thought we had it all figured out. Want to hear something crazy, though? The original premise -- and ending -- of Frozen sure looked a lot different, according to a new report in Entertainment Weekly. And not in a good way, in our humble opinion.

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Producer Peter Del Vecho spoke to EW about Frozen's untold origins, explaining that originally Elsa and Anna -- the sister duo we know and love today -- were not related at all. Nope. In fact, they weren't even royal; Elsa was a jilted bride who was left at the altar, resulting in her transformation into an evil "Snow Queen" who froze over her own heart in order to never feel love again.

A prophecy in the kingdom of Arendelle predicted that its destruction would be brought by a frozen-hearted individual, and as Elsa builds an army of snow monsters, the audience and the townsfolk are led to believe that the prophecy is about her. However, when Prince Hans (remember that jerk?) triggers an enormous avalanche to stop the monsters -- knowing full well it could kill everyone in town -- it becomes clear that he is the evil one whose presence was foretold. Anna convinces Elsa to save Arendelle, and the rest is happy history. Heck, Elsa even unfreezes her cold heart so that she can love again.

All right, not terrible. It's a story we've seen before -- there's even mention of Kristoff saving innocent Anna from the snow monsters -- and after all, it's only a fairy tale. But good on Disney for turning the traditional narrative up on its head, right? When, in the final movie we all saw, we learn that it's Anna and Elsa's own sisterly love that saves the day, it was like a beautiful sigh of relief. It didn't feel like it was about agendas or daring to be edgy. It felt sweet and natural and it made perfect sense.

Mainly we're relieved that they nixed the idea of Elsa's being a scorned ex-bride with a cold, unfeeling heart. As if we need to push that tired old trope out there on our sons and daughters. We also get the feeling a ton of think pieces would've resulted from that part alone -- and obviously not the good kind.